Zack Sabre Jr.
|weight = |birth_date = |birth_place = Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England, U.K. |resides = New York City, New York, USA |billed = |trainer = NWA UK Hammerlock Andre Baker Matt Ball Jon Ryan Chris Hero |debut = April 20, 2004 |website = }} Lucas Eatwell (born 24 July 1987) is a British professional wrestler better known by the ring name Zack Sabre Jr. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the winner of the 2018 New Japan Cup. Through a working relationship between NJPW and Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), he is the current and record setting four-time British Heavyweight Champion, while also being a former one-time British Tag Team Champion. Sabre started training with NWA-UK Hammerlock at the age of 14, under the guidance of Jon Ryan and Andre Baker. His offense includes various technical wrestling holds and pinning combinations, along with hard hitting strikes, which stems from his love of puroresu. The readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted Sabre the Best Technical Wrestler for four consecutive years from 2014 to 2017. Sabre is a former British Tag Team Championship, alongside Suzuki-gun stablemate Minoru Suzuki, and was a two-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Yoshinari Ogawa during his time in Pro Wrestling Noah. Professional wrestling career Pro Wrestling NOAH (2008–2015) On 21 June 2008, Sabre took part in an exclusive British six-man tag team match, on the pre-show of Pro Wrestling Noah's UK tour at the Coventry Skydome. The team of Hubba Bubba Lucha (El Ligero and Bubblegum) & Luke "Dragon" Phoenix defeated Sabre, Dave Moralez & Mark Haskins. The following day on 22 June 2008, Sabre fought to a twenty-minute time limit draw, with the current holder of the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Sabre wrestled a number of matches on tour with Pro Wrestling Noah between July and September 2011. Sabre returned to Pro Wrestling NOAH in April 2012 to wrestle a number of singles matches on the Global Tag League 2012 tour. On 7 December, Sabre and Yoshinari Ogawa defeated Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Atsushi Kotoge and Taiji Ishimori on 21 March 2014, before regaining it from them on 12 April. On 5 July, Sabre and Ogawa again lost the title to Kotoge and Ishimori. Sabre left Noah in November 2015. New Japan Pro Wrestling (2017–Present) On February 21, 2017, it was announced that Sabre would be making his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling at the promotion's 45th anniversary show on March 6, where he would challenge Katsuyori Shibata for the British Heavyweight Championship. Sabre won the match with help from Minoru Suzuki and Davey Boy Smith Jr., joining the Suzuki-gun stable in the process. The following day, Sabre pinned NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto in an eight-man tag team match. This led to Sabre unsuccessfully challenging Goto for the title on April 9 at Sakura Genesis 2017. Sabre was left out of the Best of the Super Juniors as NJPW had decided to categorize him as a heavyweight wrestler going forward. Instead, he was announced for NJPW's premier singles tournament, the G1 Climax. Prior to the G1 Climax, Sabre took part in a tournament to crown the inaugural IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at G1 Special in USA, where he made it to the semifinals, before losing to Tomohiro Ishii. On 17 July, Sabre scored a major win in his first G1 Climax match by submitting the reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. Sabre went on to finish the tournament with a record of five wins and four losses, failing to advance to the finals. On 16 September at Destruction in Hiroshima, Sabre failed in his attempt to capture the Intercontinental Championship from Tanahashi. On February 28, 2018, Sabre was announced to take part in the 2018 New Japan Cup. Sabre defeated Tetsuya Naito in the first round, Kota Ibushi in the second round and SANADA in the semi-finals, to advance to the finals. On March 21, 2018 Sabre defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi in the finals to win the 2018 New Japan Cup, and become the number one for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. This also led Sabre becoming the second gaijin to win the tournament after Giant Bernard in 2006. During the tournament, Sabre stablemate Taka Michinoku became his manager and spokesperson. On April 1 at Sakura Genesis, Sabre unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Six days later, it was reported that Sabre signed a full time deal with NJPW. From July 14 until August 11, Sabre took part in the 2018 G1 Climax, finishing the tournament with a record of six wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament after losing to Kota Ibushi in their head-to-head match. From November 17 until December 7, Sabre and Taichi took part of the 2018 World Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record of seven wins and six losses, failling to advancing to the finals, due to losing to EVIL and SANADA in their last round robin match. On January 4, 2019, at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome, Sabre defeated Tomohiro Ishii to in the British Heavyweight Championship for the record breaking third time. From July 6 until August 10, Sabre took part in the 2019 G1 Climax, where he finished the tournament with a record of four wins and five losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament. On August 31 at Royal Quest, Sabre lost the British Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi, only to regain it on September 15 at Destruction in Beppu. From November 16 until December 8, Sabre and Taichi took part in the 2019 World Tag League, failing to win the tournament with a record of ten wins and five losses. Afterwards, Sabre began feuding with SANADA, attacking him due to being furious for losing to him twice. At a press conference the following day, Sabre walked out of the press conference after feeling to be disrespected by SANADA. On December 19, Sabre and SANADA faced each other in a tag team match, where Sabre teamed with Taichi and SANADA with his Los Ingobernables de Japon stablemate EVIL. The match ended with Sabre pinning SANADA for the victory. The following day, SANADA returned Sabre the favor, after pinning him during their tag team match, leading Sabre to be furious for losing to SANADA for the third time. On December 21, due to SANADA being injured, his Los Ingobernables de Japon stablemate BUSHI faced Sabre, scoring an upset win over Sabre, leading his Suzuki-gun stablemate Taichi, who was mocking BUSHI with the Masked Black Horse mask, attacked the referee, leading him to be furious again. On January 5, 2020 in the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome, Sabre successfully defended the British Heavyweight Championship against SANADA. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **''Article 50 (Cross armbreaker) **''Cremation Lily ''(Double omoplata / Figure-four stump puller combination) **''European Clutch (Double wrist-clutch flip into a bridging cradle pin) **''Hypernormalisation'' (Back-mounted inverted surfboard) **''Orienteering with Napalm Death'' (Over-the-shoulder single leg Boston crab / Calf slicer combination) **''Jim Breaks Ambar (Omoplata stepover scissored armbar) **''Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than The Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness / Double armbar octopus hold **''Yes, I'm Far Away from Home (Leghook hammerlock fujiwara armbar) **''Zack Driver (Michinoku driver) *'Signature moves' **Discus elbow smash **High-angle sitout powerbomb **''Jim Breaks Special'' (Elevated wristlock) **Kimura lock **Multiple kick variations ***Feint roundhouse followed by a legsweep ***Overhead to opponent's arm ***Diving enzuigiri ***Springboard enzuigiri **Multiple suplex variations ***Bridging half nelson ***Dragon ***Northern Lights, usually followed by cross armbreaker ***Snap underhook ***Tiger **Muta lock **''Penalty Kick'' (Soccer kick to the chest of a seated opponent) **''Rolling Elbow'' (Discus elbow smash) **Running European uppercut to a cornered opponent *'Managers' **Taka Michinoku *'Nicknames' **'"ZSJ"' **"The Technical Wizard" **'"Submission Master"' **"Wrestling Master" **"Eikoku no Wakaki Takumi" (Japanese for "England's Young Master") **"Zacky Two Belts" (When holding the British Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships all at the same time) **"Zacky Three Belts" (When holding the Evolve, PWG, and British Heavyweight Championships all at the same time) *'Entrance themes' **"Hyph Mngo" by Joy Orbison (NOAH) **"Real Bone Master (Remix)" by Yonosuke Kitamura (NJPW) Championships and accomplishments *'DDT Pro-Wrestling' **Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time) *'Evolve' ** Evolve Championship (1 time) *'New Japan Pro-Wrestling' **New Japan Cup (2018) *'Pro Wrestling Guerrilla' **PWG World Championship (1 time) **Battle of Los Angeles (2015) *''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' **PWI ranked him #'28' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016 **PWI ranked him #'26' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017 *'Pro Wrestling NOAH' **GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Yoshinari Ogawa * Revolution Pro Wrestling ** British Heavyweight Championship (4 times, current) ** British Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Minoru Suzuki *''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' **5 Star Match (2017) vs. Walter on 21 October **Bryan Danielson Award (Best Technical Wrestler) (2014-2017)Renamed from "Best Technical Wrestler" to "Bryan Danielson Award (Best Technical Wrestler)" in the February 15, 2016 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, between his third and fourth wins. References Category:Wrestlers Category:Gaijin Category:Pro Wrestling Noah Roster Category:NJPW Roster Category:Suzuki-gun